Final Goodbyes

This week in history, August 2-8:

• True Father makes his final visit to Osan School (August 2, 2012)
• True Father is admitted to St. Mary’s Hospital (August 3, 2012)
• God’s Hope For America Tour concludes (August 3, 2014)
• The World Peace Center is established (August 5, 2007)
• A dedication ceremony for True Parents’ Archives is held (August 8, 2014)
• Hyo Jin Moon marches to the Berlin Wall (August 8, 1987)

August 2, 2012

True Father’s Last Visit to Osan School

On August 2, 2012, True Father suddenly decided to visit Osan School. True Father’s great-uncle Yun Kook Moon help found the school, and it was a hotbed of Korean patriotism during the Japanese occupation. True Father enrolled in Osan School in 1934. There he received patriotic education based on Christianity until he transferred to Jeong Joo School, which was run by the Japanese, one year later. Osan School was re-opened in Pusan after the Korean War and re-established on November 26, 1955, in Bokwang-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul. True Father called a number of education leaders to join him and arrived at 5 p.m. He recalled his past while listening to the testimony of Chang Yeol Lee, his cousin on his mother’s side. In all, the visit lasted three hours, after which True Father returned to Cheongpyeong. While speaking, he coughed quite often, but it didn’t seem to bother him. Those present felt sorry about his condition.

August 3, 2012

True Father is Admitted to St. Mary’s Hospital

Following the Inaugural Rally for the Abel Women UN on July 16, 2012, True Father caught a cold. It worsened and developed into pneumonia. Complications set in, and on August 3, he was admitted to Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital, known in Korea as Seong Mo (Holy Mother), one of the nation’s finest hospitals. There, over the ensuing ten days True Father received every possible medical test, including several X-rays and PET CT blood tests. He spent that period in a private room at the hospital, not in the intensive care unit. On August 12, True Father insisted on returning to the Cheon Jeong Gung. There his condition worsened, and after a day True Mother rushed him again to St. Mary’s. True Father remained in St. Mary’s Intensive Care Unit until August 31, when he was taken to Cheongshim International Medical Center.

August 3, 2014

God’s Hope for America Tour Concludes

The 43-day, 48-state, 55-Holy Ground tour which retraced True Father’s establishment of Holy Grounds in the United States in 1965 concluded appropriately on Saturday, August 3, in Eugene, Oregon, where the American mission began in 1959. The tour had begun in San Francisco on Sunday, June 22, as a nationwide pilgrimage intended to rekindle True Father’s vision of the United States as “a champion of God.” In commenting on the tour, FFWPU Continental Director Dr. Ki Hoon Kim stated: “In these 43 days of the pilgrimage, we really want to inherit the spirit of True Father and True Mother. We don’t want to simply remember; there is no meaning in just remembering, just thinking of the past. This brings no meaning in our daily activities. We have to build our vision for tomorrow. … We must unite and rebuild our church and family, and make this country God’s hope.”

August 5, 2007

Completion Ceremony of the World Peace Center, Pyongyang, North Korea

In the wake of the peace movement initiated by True Parents, the completion ceremony for the World Peace Center in Pyongyang, North Korea, was held on August 5, 2007. FFWPU leaders came from South Korea, Japan and the United States to take part in this event, along with North Korean and South Korean dignitaries including the vice chairman and secretary general of the Chosun Committee for Peace in Asia and the Pacific. True Father remarked, “The environmental circumstances were in place to a certain extent,” indicating that the time was ripe. (Materials provided by the FFWPU History Compilation Committee)

August 8, 2014

Dedication Ceremony for True Parents’ Archives

True Mother dedicated True Parents’ Historical Archives on the morning of the August 8, 2014, at the Family Federation Headquarters in Cheongpa-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul. As one of the events being held in commemoration of the second anniversary of True Father’s Seonghwa, the dedication was attended by some 200 persons, including World Headquarters Director Sun Jin Moon, President Kwon Jin Moon, and Cheon Il Guk Holy Scriptures Publishing Committee President Young-Hwi Kim. True Mother performed the unveiling of the signboard and the official ribbon cutting. In her prayer True Mother said, “May this place, a treasure that preserves the historical records of how much True Parents loved humanity and how hard they worked for the completion of the providential history, be well preserved and, together with the erection of the Museum of True Parents’ Lives, express our desire to dedicate something bigger to You for future generations.”

August 8, 1987

Hyo Jin Moon Leads March to the Berlin Wall

Hyo Jin Moon bravely leads 2,000 marchers on their way from the center of West Berlin to the Wall

World CARP held its Fourth World Convention in Berlin, Germany, from August 2 to 8, 1987, during the waning days of the Cold War. Opponents attempted to block the convention by denying CARP hotel and convention space. When those tactics failed, the leftist opposition resorted to heckling and shouting abuse at almost every event, throwing paint and stink bombs, slashing tires of 20 CARP vehicles and setting fire to a CARP bus. Nevertheless the convention was successful, with 3,000 people attending various events. The convention’s high point was on its last day, when 2,000 CARP members and others marched 7 kilometers from the center of Berlin to the Wall near Checkpoint Charlie. In spite of the hazards, World CARP President Hyo Jin Moon insisted on walking at the front of the march. Members carried flags from their countries of origin, coffins depicting the millions of deaths under communism and placards that read “Die Mauer muss weg!” (“The wall must go!”). Police provided protection, but several hundred counterdemonstrators attempted to disrupt the march by shouting and throwing paint and eggs. At the rally Hyo Jin Nim delivered a passionate address, then rushed through the crowd directly to the Wall, calling on others to join him in prayer. World CARP’s “Jericho March” was an important steppingstone to True Parents’ Moscow Rally in April 1990. In the following days, for the first time since 1961, a demonstration was held in East Berlin to protest the Wall. Young people there also were shouting “Die Mauer muss weg!”

This Week in History briefly lists significant events in the history of the Unification Church, the lives of the Founders, and world events that are momentous to Unificationists. Most items are marked according to the solar calendar. Items marked “H.C.” correspond to the Cheon-gi or Heavenly Calendar, which is based on the lunar calendar. This installment covers the week of August 2 to 8.